[photo credit: image by Flavia Productions of Sophie from Fashionable Ethical.]
My interest in sustainable fashion
I discovered my passion for sustainable fashion through modelling.
Growing up, I was always drawn to the fashion industry. I loved glossy magazines, styling my friends and family for events, shopping and putting outfits together. I wasn’t exactly sure “how”, but I wanted to find my place in the industry.
I started modelling when I was 15 years old. Modelling gave me an entry into the world of fashion – an exciting, vibrant, cutthroat world that I was thrilled to have a tiny role in. I enjoyed the controlled chaos of photoshoots: stylists reworking your outfits, makeup and hair teams frantically turning you into a new person, photographers yelling directions and the designer watching intently, jumping in to make final adjustments.
Photoshoots could take anywhere between 4 to 10 hours, and you spend a lot of time waiting around. So, I would strike up conversations with the designers. I’d ask dozens of questions about their designs, and they’d share fascinating stories with me.
The designers told me about things I had never heard of: sustainable regenerative fabrics, biodegradable materials, upcycling vintage pieces. They used terms like “slow fashion”, “consciously crafted garments”, “choosing pieces with longevity” and “overconsumption”.
Hearing the amount of work that went into creating garments, and the ethical and environmental decisions behind each piece made me view fashion in a new light.
Once I started looking for information on sustainable fashion, it became a never-ending rabbit hole. I started reading the annual Ethical Fashion Reports by Baptist World Aid, and my perspective on the industry was forever changed. This report revealed the poor efforts being made by many of my favourite fashion brands, from the lack of environmentally conscious practices to the exploitation of their workers.
It was upsetting to learn about the significant problems with the fashion world, and I didn’t know how I could make a difference.
I continued seeking information and was grateful to come across some great resources. Websites such as Good On You provided me with a useful guide to “buying better” fashion pieces. I also started reading The Fashion Transparency Index, which provided further insights into the practices and impacts of large global fashion companies. Slowly, I started to understand how I could contribute to a better industry.
I know how overwhelming fashion ethics can be. So, I wanted to create a place where I could share information about the fashion industry’s issues in simple language and things we can do to improve it. Fashionable Ethical is a place we can learn together and make a positive difference on the fashion industry while staying…fashionable.
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